Got a little more serious today...

Things got a little more serious in north Mitrovica today, when the UN tried to take control back of the courthouse that was overtaken on Friday.

There have been reports on BBC and CNN of thousands of protesters stepping up the violence with grenades, rifle fire, molotov cocktail and firecrackers.
The pictures are certainly a bit worrying with direct attacks on the courthouse and tanks. Several injuries are reported, around 40 UN Police and 12 Kfor troops.

The UN police have pulled out and NATO-KFOR is now keeping the tense peace.

Today marks an anniversary of serious ethnic violence across Kosovo in 2004 and is the one month anniversary of the declaration of Independence by Kosovo's majority Albanian government.


I've just watched (from my apartment window) a long line of tanks and trucks from the French KFOR camp in south Mitrovica pull out into the street and drive off - perhaps heading north for reinforcement/replacement?

Things in the south are basically quiet and business as usual, and I was glad to be in another town all day in workshops that kept me from most of the news, but I imagine its not just me that is a bit on edge.
I am rather glad to be leaving next week I must say.

Snipers, Protests, Railways

Just days after my first Kosovo train adventure (from Pristina to Skopje) things have gotten a bit complicated with the railways here, with Serbia taking back control of part of the network in the north of Kosovo and stopping trains from travelling north of Mitrovica.

They claim "the move will ensure better quality of transport, and noted that the railway company operating there under UNMIK's jurisdiction since 1999 was unable to perform according to the SŽ standards. "


Protests are underway at the Zvecan railway station, and also continue at the court house in north Mitrovica, with people demanding that both institutions, and their employees jobs, be returned to Serbian jurisdiction.

photo credit: iht.com

"It is in line with the Belgrade government's instructions to the Serbian minority to shun any contact with Kosovo's government after it declared independence two weeks ago, and to work directly with Serbia instead" iht.com

The security situation has been changing each day, but there has been regular restrictions of movement for internationals. After being told movement in north was safe yesterday, I had planned to drive to the office by the east road past the community centre. For various reasons I didn't, and I'm glad as there were reports of sniper fire aimed at the centre.

These events follow several weeks of bubbling unrest, daily protests, small but effective explosions and the expulsion of many international organisations including the new EU mission.

Intimidation by the bridge watchers has continued, with even foreign journalists receiving the nasty 'kosovo kiss'.

It is hard to see any end to this, though the daily protests have been getting smaller there seems to be something new each day to increase the tensions and fuel the anger. It is clear that neither side is willing to change its position, but how long can this go on?